


The Inevitable Memory Effect

by Nears_my_boytoy



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Eventual Smut, M/M, Rape, Time Traveler AU, triggering content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-04 03:23:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6639421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nears_my_boytoy/pseuds/Nears_my_boytoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil is a time traveler. Dan is a man without memory. Because of childhood trauma, Dan forgets every day that passes by. Phil must convince Dan to fall in love with him in just one day, every day. It's as complicated as it sounds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the movies; "About Time," "The Time Traveler's Wife" (loosely), and "50 First Dates."

Phil was quite grateful that Dan always worked at the same store at the exact same hours every day. He couldn't be able to see him today, but at least he would know where to find him tomorrow. It wasn't as if he would be missing him anyways. 

"So Philip, you're here because of relationship troubles, yeah?" 

Phil inwardly cringed at the mention of his full name, yet refrained from mentioning it, or corrected him. 

"You could say that." He muttered, feeling slightly awkward sprawling his body out on the couch. He was told it would make him more comfortable to share his thoughts and feelings, but he just felt even more ridiculous. Comfortable, but ridiculous. 

Even if a therapist wasn't going to be able fix Dan's problem, Phil knew it was better to talk about it. He was agitated. He wanted to know what more he could do, besides what he'd been doing for the last 6 months. Talking about it was the first step. 

"You'd rather talk about these troubles in private than going to couples counselling?" His therapist asked, Jeff had been his name. 

"He wouldn't remember it anyways. That's why I'm here." 

"Do explain, Philip." Jeff said, looking rather interested as he crossed one leg over the other, as professionals tended to do. 

Phil sighed, running a sweaty hand through his styled fringe, delicate enough as to not damage the specific styling. He had ran this thousands of times through his brain, what he would say. 

"I think he has short term memory loss or something. We aren't in a relationship, because you can't be in a relationship with someone you've only just met, but we've met more than once. He just never remembers it." He explained, nervously fiddling with the end of his button down shirt. Once said out loud, his situation seemed a lot more absurd. 

"I see. And have you perhaps brought him into a clinic to check for sure?" Jeff's voice almost seemed uninterested, his eyes focused on his clipboard. His glasses rested comfortably on his nose. Phil wished he might have the level of peace that Jeff seemed to possess. 

"I can't, there's no proof of him forgetting anything. He remembers his job, just not anything that happens that day, or-" he swallowed. "Or me." 

"He only knows you as a stranger." Jeff stated, now looking at Phil was almost sympathetic eyes. Almost, but not quite. 

Phil nodded, knowing that if he used his voice it would fall apart. Very much like dry skin, his composure would crack and bleed. 

"Have you ever witnessed or experienced any kind of childhood trauma?" Jeff asked suddenly, looking up at Phil with curiosity. 

"No." Phil admitted, wondering where the hell this conversation was supposed to be going. 

"Although short term memory loss is a possibility, it isn't likely for someone of his age. Often times, if one has experienced some kind of childhood trauma, their brains will completely shut down and ignore those events all together in order to function in every day life. In some cases, this includes extreme memory loss." 

Phil listened, still. He didn't want to make a sound. To rip through the thick fog of possibility. If Dan did suffer from any sort of childhood trauma, Phil could find out. Even so, no amount of time travel came without some sort of price to pay. 

Phil nodded after awhile, thinking to the worn out running shoes he had hidden in his backpack. He didn't wish to time travel now, to Dan's past especially. It felt invasive, and he was afraid of what he would find. 

"Thank you, I promise I'll try to look into it." He said, swiftly throwing his legs from the old fashioned floral couch and standing. 

"Should I be diagnosing you or your partner?" Jeff asked with a slight smirk. Phil looked at him. 

"I've already reached my own diagnosis." He said, mostly to himself than anybody else. After a few moments of Jeff saying nothing, supposedly to let Phil carry on, he did. 

"I can't get him to love me for more than a day at a time." 

He thanked Jeff briefly with a small, shy smile before departing, hurrying down the stairs of the ten story building. 

He figured he would do one last thing before acquiring an annual headache after time traveling. He still had time. 

He strode into the video store, seeing the familiar face behind the counter, as he always was. 

He recited the same words for the billionth time. 

"Hi, I'm Phil."


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone here hasn't watched the movie "About Time" or "50 First Dates," get right on that. Educate yourselves. They're such good movies.

It all started on the day of Phil's 21st birthday, at approximately 12 o'clock in the afternoon, though he couldn't be sure about details such as those. His memory was rather rubbish.

He remembered having just hung up the phone call to his mother when he heard the doorbell ring. When he opened the door, there had been nobody present in the doorway, only a sad little cardboard box sitting on his porch step.

He was rather confused, to say the least, considering the fact that he hadn't ordered any packages his way. With a shrug, he picked up the box and brought it into his home, figuring that it was his birthday, and a random box left on his porch wasn't severely unusual on such an occasion. 

Not waiting more than a few seconds after bringing the mysterious box inside, he promptly opened the lid to find shoes. Not just any pair of shoes either. The athlete kind of shoes, without the expensive brand name written on the heel. They were an ugly color of neon green, bright purple lining the bottom where white material made itself evident on the bottom and sides of the shoe. 

As he lifted one of the shoes out of the box to further examine them, because  _why_ would somebody send him athletes shoes? Everyone he knew knew that he wasn't athletic in the slightest bit. 

A corner of a note at the bottom of the box snagged on the shoe as he lifted it, catching his eye and further peeking his interest. He put the shoe on the arm of the couch he stood beside and lifted the note from the box, which looked to be a bit more than a note. Rather, a full on letter. He unfolded the paper, eyes scanning the neatly hand printed writing. 

_Greetings, Philip. You have been chosen to be the next person to possess the shoes you see in the box you were delivered. Although they look like no more than normal running shoes, these shoes contain the power of time travel._

'Yeah right.' Phil scoffed to himself, but nevertheless proceeded to read the letter, figuring this was some kind of prank by one of his mates. Perfectly executed, he had to admit. 

_Now, with the ability of time travel comes a few rules. First, you cannot travel to the stone age or anything along those lines. You are only able to travel to places within your own lifespan meaning you can only travel to places and events that you were alive for. Secondly, you cannot travel in time more than 5 times a day, or else you might break the fragile balance of the universe. It hasn't happened yet (and I advise you to keep it that way). Thirdly, this ability is only available to you until you turn 60, then you must give them up to an unknown location, which will be enclosed when that time comes._

_Now, these shoes have been passed down through many generations. It's believed that they have existed through the 1800s, but have obviously been rebuilt over the years, as to keep them new and fresh looking._

_To activate time travel, all you need to do is put on the shoes, close your eyes and think of a time that you would like to travel to. Yes, it is that easy. So now that I've covered the important bases, I wish you all the best, and happy traveling._

Phil flipped the page over, searching for some sort of return address, however finding no such thing. 

"Very funny." He muttered to himself, amused by how confused this prank had actually made him. However, despite knowing this was a prank and a prank only, he figured there was no real harm in trying on the shoes and testing to see if they worked, which they obviously didn't.

He slipped his feet into the shoes, finding that they were exactly his size and fit rather snugly. They were velcro rather than lace-ups, which Phil thought made the universe so much simpler. 

He racked his mind for a time to which he could travel to, assuming that time travel really did exist. Finally, after a few moments, he settled on a moment in his past that he wanted to travel to. He smiled to himself, reflecting on how silly he was before closing his eyes, and thinking of the exact time and date he wanted to travel back to. 

Suddenly, he felt a weird sensation, identical to the feeling you would have when you were just falling asleep, only to be jerked awake by your body making it seem as if you were falling. He opened his eyes, surprised to see that he was no longer in the safety of his flat, and he felt like he was at least an inch shorter. 

The room was filled with buzzing commotion, all provided by either drunk or tipsy teenagers. Teenagers that he recognized from his school days. With a feeling of both shock and realization, Phil recognized this to be the night of his prom, the date that he'd wanted to travel to.

He stepped back in shock, accidentally bumping into a teenage girl in a light pink dress, who glared at him as she walked passed with a drink in hard. He smiled sheepishly at her, feeling his teenage awkwardness seem to be returning to him. 

He felt something in his grasp, and looked to see it was his prom date. A sad, grey balloon. 

He thought it would be a humorous substitute for his lack of an actual prom date, but found it to be extremely embarrassing in the future. He let go of the balloon, watching it float to the ceiling. Although his teenage self wasn't too bothered to not have an actual prom date, he could feel himself cringing at the reality none the less, but convinced himself that having no prom date at all was far less embarrassing than having pictures of him snogging a balloon in his family's photo book years down the road. 

He rushed to the loo after that, almost falling backwards upon seeing his reflection in the mirror. 

He wasn't himself. Well, he  _was_ , technically, but not himself that had received a box on his porch this morning. He was his teenage self, a 5 year difference from the version he was a mere few minutes ago. 

He closed his eyes, willing himself to go back and perhaps getting himself a haircut in 2008 later. 

He opened his eyes to his familiar flat, a sigh of relief escaping him. Being around teenagers always made him feel slightly anxiety ridden. 

Phil slipped the shoes off of his feet, staring at them with wide eyes, his theory of these shoes being a prank completely being thrown out a mental window. He put them back in the box, unsure as to whether he even wanted to use them ever again. 

They proved to be both a blessing and a curse. In the end, he was grateful to use them to his will. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

"Are you gonna come tonight?" 

Phil violently shook his head at the question, choosing to sink into the couch decorating his brother's flat, his knees spread, rather than think about going to any sort of party. When he came over to Martyn's place for a visit, he hadn't known he was being sucked into socializing. 

"You never come to parties-"

"Might be because I hate them." Phil replied, the corner of his mouth moving upwards in an expression that could be taken as a shrug, in substitute of his shoulders. 

"You can leave anytime you want to. Please, I just want to introduce you to some people. It won't be that bad." Martyn argued, his eyes pleading, a almost mirror image of Phil's own deep blue eyes. 

And that was when it clicked. Martyn was trying to set him up.

"If I had any romantic interest, I would pursue it." Phil said, somewhat bitterly. He appreciated his brother for trying, however he felt the need to take a handle on his own love life, or rather, lack of, rather than someone else doing it for him. 

"That's what I'm saying! How long have you been single for?" Martyn replied. 

'Awhile.' Phil thought, a knowing smile tugging at his lips. He wasn't sure he could actually count how many years it'd been. 

"Exactly. C'mon, you could meet somebody." 

Phil sighed. He couldn't exactly argue with that, no matter how unlikely he knew that was. He didn't enjoy arguing either. He figured it was just easier to agree with his brother's wishes. 

"Fine, fine." He said, rolling his eyes. "But I get to leave if I want to." 

"Yeah, whatever." Martyn agreed. 

Phil absolutely hated parties. He felt extremely awkward attending one, which is why he simply avoided them all together. He didn't imagine he'd enjoy the party that night. 

 

By "party," Phil didn't know that Martyn had actually meant to have a college party. The place was packed, Phil constantly bumping into someone, smiling apologetically and feeling his anxiety ridden nerves spasm at every slight touch.

Martyn wasn't much help either. He was currently drunk off of his ass, and had told Phil to simply go looking for a guy to "please his arsehole," as he had put it. Though that wasn't what he was doing, he didn't exactly mind looking through the crowd to meet the eyes of a mysterious stranger, their gazes speaking a soft spoken language that only they understood, and make their way through the crowd to each other. That hadn't happened just yet, however. 

Phil wasn't particularly in the mood to get laid, but he wouldn't have minded it if that was what ended up happening. It didn't seem like that would be the case though, as any guy he laid eyes on had a young woman grinding herself up against him in a sensual dance, or his gaze was  _on_ one of these dancing girls. 

Phil awkwardly and urgently made his way out of the flat, breathing in a breath of fresh air that he hadn't known he'd been holding, resting his hands on a metal bar on the side of the wall to hold himself up, calming his breathing. Sometimes he thought he might be claustrophobic. 

"Are you okay?" A voice above him asked. 

He didn't dare look up, too embarrassed that somebody had seen him having a panic attack. "Yeah, yeah I'm good." He panted, waving his hand in a dismissive manner. 

He expected the source of the voice to pad away, but instead he felt him sit next to him, his back sliding against the concrete. "I get them too." 

Phil took a moment to think about the man's accent. It wasn't like anything he'd ever heard, and he couldn't for the life of him pinpoint where he was from because his accent was just so confusing. He finally looked up, and was surprised by what he saw.

He couldn't believe someone so young could possess such a deep sounding voice. He looked to be no older than seventeen years old, black piercings present in both ears, his brown hair was perfectly styled in a fringe, similar to his own, and soft brown eyes to match. Said eyes were looking at him, not with sympathy, but with a certain level of understanding.

"Where are you from?" Phil asked breathlessly, surprised by how lost and unused his voice sounded then.

"Oh, sorry. My accent can be a little... confusing. I'm from Wokingham." The stranger answered.

Phil wanted to ask his name, but he thought maybe it'd be a bit weird. Then again, the stranger had sat next to him, with no intention of leaving. He didn't have a lot to lose.

And even if he did, Phil's thoughts drifted to the time traveling sneakers he possessed in his bag. He could just go back in time, go out a different door and avoid this whole interaction. Better yet, go back and refuse to go to this party at all. 

"Hi. I'm Phil, what's yours?" Phil asked, cringing internally at himself when he realized that he was supposed to ask "what's your  _name,"_ not "what's yours." He couldn't help but feel nervous around this boy. He was undeniably pretty, too pretty to be outside alone as he looked to be. 

He chuckled, smiling, and that was when Phil saw them. Dimples. His interest in the boy grew ten whole levels.

"I'm Dan. Nice to meet you." Dan said, and Phil loved his name right off the bat. He thought it suited him well, and would suit him even better dripping from Phil's tongue in the most private way.

'Stop it!' Phil scolded himself, absolutely horrified with his inner thoughts. This boy couldn't have been legal. He looked so young. 

"So, why are you out here by yourself?" Phil asked nonchalantly, trying to recover from his earlier thought process, though that was hard when he so obviously _liked_ what he was seeing. 

"I hate socializing. My brother made me come." Dan replied, chuckling a little to himself. Phil noticed how breathy and deep his small laugh was.

"Same here." Phil said, a wide smile on his face, but he wasn't sure why he was smiling so brightly. "My brother's the mastermind behind it." 

"No way!" Dan said in disbelief, flicking his fringe across his forehead and styling it again, just right with his fingertips before looking at Phil again. "Isn't this supposed to be like, some kind of wild college party?"

"I'm not sure." Phil replied, reminded to fix his own fringe, his forehead slightly sticky from sweat from his short panic attack, although the cold breeze was helping. 

"I hope not, since my brother's sort of underage." Dan said, his eyes shying away from Phil's to look down at his knees, which were pressed against his chest. 

It was then that Phil took into account what Dan was wearing. He was wearing a plain black shirt with a black zip up jacket over it, unzipped, and black skinny jeans, with a rip in his side pocket. And Phil didn't think that Dan knew that rip was there, because a small patch of his red boxers could be seen through it. 

"So I guess he's not your ride home then?" Phil asked, to which Dan shook his head in reply. "So you can't just leave him either then, I take it?" Another shake of the head. 

"I thought I'd just sit out here until the party ends, but really, who knows when that'll be." 

Phil nodded in agreement, looking up at the night sky, which was blocked by dark grey clouds filling the sight. 

'Stupid British weather.'

"Do you maybe want to come over to mine and my brother can text me when the party's over?" 

Immediately after asking, Phil knew he shouldn't have. 

A flicker of obvious unease made itself present in Dan's eyes, and before Phil could say anything more, he was standing up abruptly. 

"Listen, it was nice meeting you, b-but..." Dan stuttered, biting his lip. "Uhm, anyway, I'm gonna go." 

And Phil watched him as he all but ran away from him, internally kicking himself over saying something so obviously stupid. It should bewell known to him  _not_ to invite teenagers to his flat only ten minutes after meeting them. 

He ran a hand through his hair, not caring that his fringe was messy and he was in public. He was frustrated beyond belief. He'd always been an awkward guy and it got even worse during intercourse when he didn't quite know what he was supposed to do with his hands, but what he'd just done was beyond pathetic. 

He wished he could just re do the whole thing. 

HIs eyes widened then, wanting to punch himself in the face for not thinking of it earlier. He ripped his bag off his shoulder and tugged the zipper open to bring out his time traveling shoes. 

People were staring at him as he took off his blue converse and replaced them with athletic, neon green sneakers, but he couldn't care less. His butt was in the air as he tied them loosely and he didn't care. 

He stood up, but then paused, realizing he was in public and there were many, many people around him. He realized that he didn't know if when he time traveled, could people see him simply disappear into thin air? Or did the world freeze in time? Or did life just resume as normal and he was put on autopilot like Adam Sandler and his magical remote? 

He didn't know, but he didn't want to find out at that very moment. 

He spotted a bush nearby and ran towards it, ducking under it and closing his eyes, but not before making sure there was nobody behind him to watch. Everyone looked too drunk to really notice him, which was relieving. 

'Alright Phil, let's go back 15 minutes ago.' He thought, taking a deep breath of concentration. 'And don't screw up this time.' 

He felt the familiar falling feeling, and opened his eyes in wild panic, still not quite used to feeling like he'd jumped off a skyscraper every time he time traveled. Regardless of that, he knew the shoes had worked again. 

He was in the same room he had been before, bumping into the same people, although he wouldn't recognize them any other time. 

He raced for the door, smiling ear to ear, not caring about the people who stared at him as he jumped out the door and onto the concrete outside, taking a gasp of the damp night air. 

"Are you okay?" 

He smiled hearing the voice again, looking up to see the boy he'd definitely scared off only a few minutes ago. 

"Yeah, I just need some air, I think." He replied, smiling warmly at him. He couldn't help it, he was just so damn  _happy_ to be able to right his wrongs. And by wrongs, that meant inviting underage boys to his flat in the middle of the night. 

"Okay, if you're sure." Dan said softly, and to Phil's dismay, he began walking away. 

"Wait!" Phil called after him, not thinking about what he was doing first. 

Dan turned around, confusion on his face. 

"Sorry I just- I l-lost my brother." Phil said, biting his lip as he tried to come up with a believable lie. He was a terrible liar. "Everyone here is scary." 

Dan's face softened the slightest bit, but his body was still turned, like he didn't want to stop and he just wanted to be on his merry way. Phil bit his lip harder in anticipation. 

"I'm not really the greatest person to ask, sorry." Dan said, but he didn't walk away, only shifted on his feet. 

"Can I stay with you, just until my brother texts me?" The look of unease and slight panic on Dan's face was all too familiar. "I-in a very public place, where there's lots of people." He added, hoping that would change Dan's mind. "I just don't want to be by myself." 

Phil could see the gears inside Dan's pretty head turning, and it seemed the better part of him won over, because he turned on his heel to face Phil again. "Okay." 

Phil was overjoyed, however he didn't notice the soft waver of Dan's voice when he spoke. "How about that cafe down the road?" He suggested, a smile prominent on his face. Dan nodded in agreement, and the two began walking towards the small cafe with a sign that read they were open 24/7, much to Phil's relief. It had to be almost midnight by now. 

As they walked in, Phil held the door open for Dan and the bells hanging above the door jingled upon their arrival. Dan led them to a small round table, right in the middle of the cafe. Phil didn't protest, if that was what made Dan feel most comfortable, being in the center where everyone could see them. He imagined it made Dan feel that much safter. 

Phil broke from his thoughts when he spotted and elderly woman wrapped in an apron coming towards them with a pad and pen in hand. She had striking black hair, with incredibly tanned skin, and deep brown eyes, a slight shade darker than Dan's. As Phil noticed all these things, he knew that now he'd never stop thinking about Dan's features when noticing someone else's. 

"What can I get for you two?" She asked. Her accent was American, or perhaps Canadian. Nobody could much tell the difference between the two. 

"What do you want?" He asked Dan, softly. Dan looked at him with slightly wide eyes, taking a moment to reply. "U-uhm, just black coffee please." 

Phil nodded, repeating the order to the woman, her name tag read "Debra," as Dan hadn't been loud enough for her to hear herself. He ordered the same with a shot of caramel and extra creme and sugar, because there was no way Dan actually drank straight black coffee.

"So..." Phil began, clearing his throat awkwardly. He hadn't thought about what to say to Dan once it got to this point. He honestly hadn't expected it to, with his luck. The only way he could seem to get people to have an intimate relationship with him is if he payed them, and he only did that when he was feeling desperate. Phone hotlines where nice as well. Especially awkward, but nice. 

"So." Dan repeats, chewing on his bottom lip. 

Phil can't help but watch, sighing softly. "Look, I know this is a bit weird. I'm sorry for being so forward, it's just-" 

"I know, it's okay." Dan says, smiling softly at him. 

"You know?" Phil repeats. 

"Yeah. I mean, I didn't want to be alone either. I'm just a little skeptical when it comes to strangers. I've no idea why." Dan let out a soft chuckle at this, his voice breathy and low just as it had been before. Phil reflected on how he could listen to it on repeat, if that wasn't such an insanely creepy thing to do. 

"I understand." Phil says, reassuringly. "That's not a bad thing to be." 

Dan smiles at this, his dimples returning. And  _fuck_ , Phil can't help but smile as well. His smile and his cute dimples just make him so happy. 

Phil can't believe how easy conversation is with Dan. They talk about so many things, mutual interests, funny Internet memes and viral videos, random topics like lion mating, which was a rather weird conversation to have, but they both ended up laughing so loud people looked at them, and they piped down to quiet giggles. 

When Phil looks up at the clock above Dan's head, he discovers that it's nearly 3 in the morning. There was no way he could have been talking to Dan for 2 whole hours. 

"It's getting pretty late." He says. 

Dan turns around to look at the clock behind him, a small shrug lifting his shoulders. "Do you think the party's over?" 

"Honestly? Probably not." Phil replied, checking his phone to see if there were any texts from Martyn. None. 

"Yeah, my brother hasn't texted me anyways. And this coffee I drank has me pretty zazzed." 

Phil looked at him, and couldn't help his bursting laughter. "Did you seriously just use the word "zazzed?" 

A soft blush appears on Dan's cheeks, a small and tentative "Yeah." escaping his lips. Phil pauses, not sure what to say in reply. He just wants to stare at Dan all night, he's so pretty. 

"It wouldn't be weird of me to ask how old you are, would it?" Dan asked, snapping Phil out of his thoughts. 

"I'm 23. It wouldn't be weird of me to ask  _you_ , would it?" Phil replied, making Dan chuckle softly. 

"I'm 18. And legal." Dan said, winking shyly at Phil. 

Phil felt his breath hitch. It was as if Dan could read his mind, and he knew that Phil had been thinking about that since the first moment he saw him. 

"That's..." Phil trailed off. He didn't know what he would say without sounding like a perverted twat. "Could I have your number?" He asked suddenly, and felt the need to justify himself once he realized how incredibly forward that was. "I really loved talking to you, and I would love to leave with you. God knows I want to." He paused, a shy chuckle following. "But you've got your brother and... yeah." 

Dan handed him a piece of napkin then. There were numbers written on it. And a winky face. Oh  _God._ A winky face. 

"I'll see you around, Phil." Dan said, standing up and walking a few steps before turning around again. "Don't be a stranger." And then he was gone. 

With Dan's words swirling in Phil's brain, he didn't realize how ironic "don't be a stranger" would come to be. 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for reading! I don't have an updating schedule since I'm still a Highschool student and I wouldn't be able to stay on a schedule if I tired. I'll try to update as often as possible. 
> 
> My tumblr is @barelyablogger99 for anyone who wants to come say hi!

**Author's Note:**

> Notice how the first letters in the title spell "time." ;)


End file.
